The nurses at Broadlawns joined SEIU Local 199 because, like the other 1.9 million members of SEIU, they know that we are indeed STRONGER TOGETHER!

Five years ago, Sandy Doerring joined the fight to get a nurses union at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines. “That was a huge undertaking,” the 23-year veteran nurse said. It was a matter of getting signatures every day. “It took a lot of time and it was a tough sell.”

She explained that often nurses don’t like to rock the boat and ask for what they need and deserve because they think it might adversely affect other departments in the hospital.

For Sandy, it was simply a matter of the conditions leading to turnover in her department. “I was tired of training people,” she said. “The hospital didn’t seem to realize that the pay and working conditions were preventing them from keeping good folks.”

She said what employers also do not realize is that workers form unions not because they dislike the place they work, but because they do. “They want to make it better and have a voice in doing that,” she explained.

Sandy added that she tries to get new people to understand “just how much we have already done.” But the fight is not over. When they next go to the table with management, she and the other Broadlawns nurses have a “laundry list” of items they want in order to improve working conditions that will attract and keep more nurses.

Meanwhile, she looks forward to passing Fair Share in the 2009. “But there’s a lot to be done between now and then,” she admitted.

Sandy fully expects to work hard on any new Fair Share campaign. “And I’ll try to kick out anybody who doesn’t support it.” In fact, Sandy, who testified last year before the Labor Committee about Fair Share, said that the union has been a gateway to politics for her. In addition to her testimony, Sandy recently served as a precinct captain for John Edwards.

She added that her political activism has also empowered her at work to become more vocal about situations that need changing.